Surrender

August 31, 2013 | By Shashank Bengali, Paul Richter and David S. Cloud

WASHINGTON - As often happens at the end of a busy day, President Obama took a quiet walk Friday night on the rolling South Lawn of the White House with his chief of staff and longtime confidant, Denis McDonough. The two men talked war. Pentagon officials had fine-tuned their target lists in Syria. Five U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean were awaiting orders to launch fiery salvos of Tomahawk missiles. Obama's aides had canceled Labor Day weekend plans, expecting an imminent attack.

The suspected driver in a Santa Ana hit-and-run collision that left two men dead Friday has surrendered to police. Jorge Ocampo, 21, was flanked by family when he surrendered at the Santa Ana Police Department early Saturday after allegedly crashing into a Nissan the previous day after running through a stop sign, said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. Police believe he blew through a stop sign at Cabrillo Park Drive and East Fruit Street around 11 a.m., colliding with the Nissan and killing Alejandro Bravo, 53, and Jose Luna, 50. After getting out of his own car, Ocampo attempted to open the Nissan's doors, Bertagna said.

A suspect in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Santa Ana turned himself in to police early Saturday and was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and other crimes, authorities said. Jorge Ocampo, 21, of Santa Ana surrendered at Santa Ana police headquarters just after midnight and was accompanied by several family members, Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. Ocampo was booked on suspicion of two counts of vehicular manslaughter, felony hit-and-run and being an unlicensed driver, Bertagna said.

VICKSBURG, Miss. - The Siege of Vicksburg was all about the Mississippi River. Whoever controlled Vicksburg controlled the river, and whoever controlled the river was going to win the Civil War. "Vicksburg is the key," said President Lincoln. "This war can never be brought to a close until the key is in our pocket.... " There's a reason Natchez, Miss., an hour and a half south of Vicksburg, has more stately antebellum mansions today than Vicksburg, which has a few lovelies of its own. When Union troops knocked at Natchez's door in the spring of 1862, it practically laid down and rolled over.

The Galaxy hoped to clear one hurdle early this season by getting off to a much better start than last year. The club succeeded — but only in a mediocre way. At this time last year, the Galaxy had a miserable record of 4-8-2 for 14 points. The team then mustered a charge in the latter half of the season and won its second consecutive Major League Soccer championship, followed soon after by star David Beckham's departure for France and Landon Donovan's extended sabbatical. So far this year, the Galaxy is 6-6-2 with 20 points and is holding on to the fifth and last playoff spot in the West.

The excavator operator who was demolishing a four-story building in downtown Philadelphia this week when it collapsed onto a Salvation Army store, killing six people, has turned himself in to police. Sean Benschop, 42, is to be charged with six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 13 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of risking a catastrophe, Philadelphia police spokeswoman Jillian Russell confirmed in an email to The Times. Benschop turned himself in at the Central Detectives Division after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison told the Associated Press on Friday evening that a toxicology test showed Benschop had marijuana in his system at the time of the disaster.

Government overseers of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum entered into a sweeping secrecy agreement requested by USC to keep under wraps their negotiations to surrender control of the taxpayer-owned venue to the private university, a top stadium official testified Thursday. John Sandbrook, the stadium's interim general manager, said USC administrators drafted the confidentiality pact and had it signed by him and three members of the Coliseum Commission, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe.

A West Hollywood doctor surrendered to federal authorities Monday after being indicted on charges that he illegally prescribed powerful painkillers to patients, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. James William Eisenberg, 72, is accused of writing more than 1,200 prescriptions for addictive painkillers after the Drug Enforcement Administration revoked his authority to prescribe controlled substances, authorities have alleged. Eisenberg was indicted Friday.

HOUSTON - Vowing that “we will never surrender,” the leader of the National Rifle Assn. claimed victory over recently defeated gun control legislation and denounced “political and media” elites for vilifying gun owners and supporting laws that would limit their rights rather than stop criminals. “We will never give up or compromise our constitutional freedom - not one single inch,” NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre told hundreds of supporters at the group's annual meeting here.

A man who allegedly shot at police during a pursuit then barricaded himself in a Carson home surrendered Tuesday morning, police officials said. M embers of a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team fired gas projectiles into the home Monday night during an hours-long standoff with the convicted felon, who was armed with a gun, authorities said. The suspect initially refused repeated commands to surrender after he ran into the home in the 21500 block of Grace Avenue following a pursuit and vehicle crash that began about 2:30 p.m in South Los Angeles, according to authorities.